Tsunami Damage Associated with a Decline in Respiratory Function among Victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake in Iwate Prefecture: The RIAS Study

Kojiro Shiga^1,2*, Kozo Tanno¹, Yuki Yonekura³, Diana Lu^4,5, Kyle Miyazaki BS⁵, Haruki Shimoda¹, Ryohei Sasaki¹, Megumi Tsubota-Utsugi¹, Yuji Fujii², Kiyomi Sakata¹, Seiichiro Kobayashi⁶ and Akira Ogawa⁷

¹Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan

²Department of Thoracic Surgery, Morioka Yuai Hospital, Morioka, Japan

³Graduate School of Nursing Science, St. Luke’s International University, Japan

⁴Department of Surgery, The Queen’s Medical Center, Honolulu, USA

⁵University of Hawaii, John A Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, USA

⁶Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Iwate Medical University, School of Medicine, Morioka, Japan

⁷Iwate Medical University, School of Medicine, Morioka, Japan

^*Corresponding Author: Kojiro Shiga, Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, 2-1-1 Nishitokuta, Yahaba, Shiwa, Iwate, 028-3694, Japan, Tel: +81-19-651-5111, Fax: +81-19-9008-8008 Email: